Blog Roddus

Sunday, February 24, 2013

I wouldn't have gone to a Pat Benatar concert of my own accord, although I knew her early 80s hits quite well, as many in my social group of the time were big fans and I didn't mind her blend of hard rocking pop songs. Mrs. Roddus, on the other hand is quite into Pat and was keen to go, also a couple of friends were going too and I am always keen on a road trip to that part of the country. America, All I could come up with as to their music was "Horse With No Name" and Bachman & Turner From Bachman Turner Overdrive was the same with their hit"Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" the only thing that came to mind, but both were classic 70s rock bands so would be worth seeing live.

We arrived in Cromwell late Friday night and stayed at the Mother-in-Laws before heading off to Queenstown to have breakfast with Aunty lee-Ann and Uncle Ian. After Breakfast It was off to the venue to get a decent park and position ourselves to good advantage to see the stage and screens. We arrived just past 11am and found a nice spot just to the left of the stage, with a nice big screen in front of us and toilets and food stalls quite nearby. After setting up our deckchairs, slopping on sunscreen, we settled in to watch the first support bands. A couple of bands from the local highschool, the first a dubby reggae type band playing covers of local NZ bands and the second band playing covers from indie rock bands from the early 2000s.
America were first up of the main acts and I was instantly familiar with several of their songs. They played a pretty good set and were more rocky than I expected when I though of "Horse With No Name" which is quite a folksy 70s pop song and wasn't played until their encore. Plenty of foot tappin' classic rock played to an appreciative audience set the scene for an entertaining day. Although it was by this time that I realised that I had left my camera back at my accommodation.
It was during the break between sets that I suddenly remembered that Randy Bachman had originally been in The Guess Who before forming Bachman Turner Overdrive and due to legal reasons couldn't use the BTO name when preforming, so in this context I was hoping for some Guess Who songs in their set. Man, when these guys kicked of with "Roll On Down The Highway" they were awesome and played so heavy. Of Course I knew several of their songs, all classic rock numbers but I was unprepared for how good they sounded and how good were the songs I didn't know. They blokes could really play and really got the crowd to their feet, especially when the played "Takin' Care of Business" for their encore. I was very very impressed. Oh and they did play the Guess Who's American Woman and "Shakin All Over", The Guess Who's first single from 1965.
Mrs Roddus had disappeared to the front of the stage just before Bachman Turner and Aunty Lee-Ann followed suit for the Pat Benatar set while Uncle Ian and I stayed with our gear. After the brilliant set from Bachman and Turner I knew Pat Benatar was going to be a bit disappointing for me, as I said, I wasn't a huge fan of her music. But the majority of the 15000 strong crowd had come to see her and most were on their feet to see her and Neil play. She is looking good for a woman whose just turned 60 and was full of beans and still belting our the songs with great force throughout the set. The sound was very good and Neil really let rip on his guitar on several of the songs. They played a very good set of mostly the early hits, which the crowd lapped up with much enthusiasm and singing along. I did enjoy the set and am glad I went, it was well worth it and Mrs.Roddus and Aunty Lee-Ann loved every minute. They encored with "Heartbreaker" which is one of her strongest, heaviest songs and one of my favourites and during a wild guitar frenzy near the end of the song Neil broke into the riff for Led Zeppelins "Heartbreaker" Which really impressed me.
A very entertaining concert and enjoyable weekend.

About Me

Well, I dig Music of almost all variants, I love tramping/hiking in the Bush/Mountains. I enjoy reading, movies and growing my vege garden. I muck around on my computer a lot and I also follow sports a bit, especially Rugby and Cricket.